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Sunday, March 31, 2013

New York Mets Team Preview:

BY: Mr. Met Staff
Writer for NFL Prozach

Before I put my picks for the year up I wanted to give a
brief preview or my thoughts on the team the day before opening day. Terry Collins
as posted what he thinks will be his lineup going forward so far so here it is:

Position Players:

The Lineup:The
Bench:

CF- Collin Cowgill Kirk
Nieuwenhuis – OF

2b- Daniel Murphy Jordany
Valdespin- IF/OF

3b- David Wright Justin
Turner-IF

1b- Ike Davis Anthony
Recker-Catcher

RF- Marlon Byrd Mike
Baxter-OF

LF- Lucas Duda

C- John Buck

SS- Ruben Tejada

Pitcher’s Spot

My Thoughts:

Well for all the talk of the Mets being too left handed
heavy in the offseason they will enter opening day with only 3 left handed bats
in the lineup.With that being said 3 of
the 5 bats off the bench will be of that variety.The lineup obviously has some glaring wholes
and question marks here.One of which is
the leadoff spot as the Mets and Terry Collins will hope that Cowgill’s strong
spring will carry over.Another spot
where the Mets might seem to lack production is the 5 spot in which right now
Marlon Byrd is penciled as the team’s Right Fielder.Byrd who has been suspended for PED use is a
few seasons removed from an All-Star appearance if he can regain that form the
Mets got him for a steal.Lucas Duda is
also a huge question mark here as he is coming off a disappointing 2012 season.With all that being said if Byrd and Cowgill
can continue with their strong spring performances, if Duda can continue to
improve, and Buck can hold down the fort for a few months until June when Met’s
top prospect Travis d’Arnaud maybe ready to come up and help this team this
lineup will be able to score enough runs to compete.As for the bench I think Valdespin, Baxter,
and Turner have all proven they can produce off the bench for the Mets last
year.The question marks here are Nieuwenhuis
getting enough at bats to stay sharp and backup catcher Anthony Recker who
maybe replaces by Buck when d’Arnaud proves to be ready.Buck is a guy with pop and is well suited as
a veteran catcher off the bench.

The Pitching Staff:

The Rotation:

Jon Niese- Lefty

Matt Harvey- Righty

Dillon Gee- Righty

Jeremy Hefner- Right

Shaun Marcum- Righty (DL until the 6th game of
the season according to a tweet from Adam Rubin)

My thoughts:

Jon Niese will be the starter on opening day followed by
Matt Harvey and Dillon Gee.As for right
now it looks like Jeremy Hefner will be able to make the next start after the
top three.Shaun Marcum as per a tweet
from ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin will start the season on the disabled list and
will make his first start of the year on the team’s 6th game of the
season slotting him between Niese and Harvey.According to Rubin the Mets will carry 8 guys in the bullpen until this
point.The rotation itself even with the
injury to Santana and the lost to Dickey has a chance to be solid especially if
Wheeler is ready sometime before the All Star break.With that being said the Mets will need to
see a continued evolution from Niese, Harvey, and Gee while Marcum provides
solid innings and Hefner stabilizes the back end of the rotation as they await
the arrival of top pitching prospect Zach Wheeler.This would be the best case scenario for this
ball club but it is very feasible and if this happens this group can be a
stabilizing force for this ball club.

Bullpen:

Frank Francisco will start the year on the DL.

Closer- Bobby Parnell

Lefties:

Josh Edgin

Scott Rice

Righties:

Scott Atchison

LaTroy Hawkins

Brandon Lyon

Jeurys Familia

Greg Burke

My thoughts:

This looks to be the bullpen going north with the club for tomorrows
opener.Bullpen’s are always revolving doors
as guys struggle and are shipped to the minors and others brought in to
stabilize the situation.Francisco to me
is a lost cause and if can come back and give this team anything positive it
should be considered a plus.However, if
Parnell and Edgin can improve on last year’s performance and Atchison and Lyon
can provide solid innings like they have done in the past this group will be
able to lock down the back end of games for this ball club.

Overall Thoughts:

Well if the arguments that I presented in my
preview come through this team can compete for a playoff spot and I say compete
not win.I feel that even with these ifs
come through the Mets would probably need to add another bat and arm in the
bullpen to actually win a playoff spot and compete in the playoffs.With that being said this team can also be an
outright disaster because again the Mets will go into the season with a cast of
players brought in and acquired by Omar Minaya’s regime while missing major
pieces such as Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, and now Johan Santana.I have discussed this more in depth in a post
back in December.Alderson promised major
changes to this ball club in the beginning of this offseasonand he has not delivered and I fear we as
fans will have to go through another dismal season but for now I will hold out
hope for some of the scenario’s I presented above because tomorrow is Opening
Day.For more on the Mets follow me on twitter @MrMetNFLPROZACH